Good Changes Come to Fripp

John Lee

This Article was written By Page Miller

Good Changes Come to Fripp

Although the service Corporation of South Carolina handled the initial negotiations for the purchase of Fripp island resort, it formed a subsidiary called the Fripp island development Corporation to purchase and operate the island. 13 savings and loans composed the new Corporation, and they subsequently elected Jack Lawrence Chairman of the board and John Hardin president. The 13 financial institutions shared in the decision-making with contributions based on network of each individual institutions. Fripp Island Real Estate

After the various deeds for the purchases had been recorded, the Beaufort Gazette estimated the sale price of the entire deal at approximately $3.5 million. John Hardin, as president of the newly formed Fripp island development Corporation, asserted that the occasion of the signing knowledge papers: we want to make Fripp the finest development off its kind, and we have the strength of our member savings and loans associations to have to do it. Hardin emphasized that Fripp could continue to operate as both a resort and vacationers and as a place for year around leisure and retirement living. Bill Merritt, the president all American federal savings and loan in Greenville, Bill Smith, president of standard savings and loan loans in Columbia, subsequently purchased homes on Fripp. Thus all the 13 leading institutions, four had chief executives who visited the island frequently.

The Fripp island development Corporation had purchased a woefully neglected island. Just three months after the deeds had been filed, in a mailing to all members the Fripp island homeowners Association reported on positive changes: roadsides are being cleaned, brush and we get down, trees pruned and the accumulation of unsightly junk is disappearing. Other welcome the changes were the corporation’s employment of uniform guards on duty at the bridge entrance 24 hours a day and the downward adjustment of prizes in the island liquor and grocery store to make them competitive with prices in town.

After addresses some of the cosmetic and easily accomplished task, the new developers focus on land planning, data gathering and conducting extensive engineering and architectural studies. Considerable work was needed on the basic infrastructure off halting beach erosion, providing adequate water and building a sewer treatment plant. Expanding the Capt. John Fripp villas, developing new neighborhoods to bring in revenue and building additional recreational facilities were also priorities.

In presenting their master plan for Fripp Island, the new management make clear they were steering toward a new path. With his stated priorities of preserving the ecology of the island and maintaining a tranquil family oriented atmosphere, the owners decided to dismantle the inn, which experienced only limited success in attracting conventions. They also plan to convert the sleeping rooms into efficiency suite condominiums. The restaurant and bar portion of the original La Tai Inn, later called the Fripp island inn, became the beach club. Families, not conventions, became the focus. The Fripp island development corporation’s promotional flyer stated: Fripp Island is not a commercial resort spa. Rather, it’s a private, full serviced residential community. The emphasis on full serviced which meant attention to appearance, the quality of the recreational facilities and guards on the bridge reduced much of the tension that had existed between the previous resort owners and the residents.